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How to try a free model on OpenRouter in 5 minutes

Updated 5 min read

OpenRouter is a service that lets you use many different AI models from one account, through a chat page in your browser or through its API. Some of those models are offered free of charge. This guide shows you how to try one in a few minutes, no coding needed.

Fanetti AI isn’t affiliated with OpenRouter, and we earn nothing if you sign up. Details below were checked against OpenRouter’s own documentation on October 22, 2026. Services change, so if something looks different, trust OpenRouter’s pages over ours.

Before you start

  • Free models on OpenRouter have low usage limits (a rate limit on requests per minute and per day). They’re meant for trying things out, not heavy use. OpenRouter publishes the current limits in its FAQ and limits page.
  • The list of free models changes often. A model that is free today may not be free next month.
  • Read our guide on using free AI models safely first. Don’t type anything private.

Step 1: Create an account

Go to openrouter.ai and choose Sign up. Follow the steps on screen. Use a strong, unique password, and turn on extra sign-in protection if it’s offered.

You don’t need to buy credits to try a free model.

Step 2: Find a model marked “free”

Open the Models page. Free versions have “(free)” at the end of their name, and their model ID (the short code under the name) ends in :free. Their price shows as $0.

Not sure which to pick? OpenRouter also has a Free Models Router that picks an available free model for you.

Step 3: Chat with it in your browser

  1. Open Chat.
  2. Choose the free model you found in step 2. The chat page can also compare models side by side.
  3. Type a question and press Enter.

Good first tests are the everyday tasks from our guide How to pick an AI model: rewrite an email, summarize a paragraph, or explain something in simpler words.

According to OpenRouter’s FAQ, chat-room conversations are stored on your own device and don’t sync between devices.

Step 4: Check your privacy settings

OpenRouter’s FAQ says it doesn’t log your prompts and replies by default. Separately, it won’t send your requests to model providers that may log them or use them for training unless you switch that on in your account’s privacy settings. If a free model won’t work for you, that setting may be why. Only turn it on if you’re comfortable with your messages being kept by the provider. See OpenRouter’s data collection page and privacy policy for details.

Optional: an API key (for apps and code)

If you later want to connect OpenRouter to an app or your own code, you’ll create an API key in your account settings. An API key is like a password that lets software use your account.

Never share or paste your API key publicly. Don’t put it in a chat, an email, a screenshot, a forum post, or a file you upload or publish (for example to GitHub). Anyone who has it can use your account, and spend your credits if you have any. If a key is ever exposed, delete it in your OpenRouter settings right away and create a new one.

You don’t need an API key to use the chat in your browser.

The short version

Sign up, pick a model whose name ends in “(free)”, chat with it in your browser, and keep private information out. Treat any API key like a password.

Source: OpenRouter’s Quickstart, FAQ, and limits documentation, checked October 22, 2026. OpenRouter is a trademark of its owner.